I'm surprised the Best Picture nominees turned out as good as they did. Crash was one of the better movies I've seen over the last year, but I was afraid it came out "too early" to really be noticed in Oscar season. Guess I was wrong on that.

Good Night and Good Luck is also a worthy nominee.

Haven't seen Brokeback Mountain, but I guess given the press, it was easy to see that would be nominated.

I hope Joaquin Phoenix wins, but from what I've heard about Phillip Seymour Hoffman's performance in Capote, there's no shame in losing to him.

-- The Oscar voters remembering Crash and duly giving it the recognition it deserves.-- Terrence Howard's Best Actor nomination.-- Actual artistic merit being rewarded in the Animated Feature category.

The bad:

-- King Kong getting shut out of the major awards.-- Walk the Line not getting a Best Picture nod (very disappointing, as I believed it had the best chance of beating Brokeback Mountain).-- The weakness of the Best Supporting Actress field. (Where is Scarlett Johansson?)

What a great year for Jon Stewart to host - with three overtly political films in the Best Picture category, along with "Brokeback Mountain" which I saw this weekend and really is a pretty straightforward star-crossed love story but, of course, is probably the most politically divisive film nominated anyway, this really wasn't the year for Billy Crystal and his cringe-inducing showtune parodies.

And I second (third? fourth?) the love for remembering "Crash", and agree that it's the only movie that has a shot of being "Brokeback".

Originally posted by Texas KellyActual artistic merit being rewarded in the Animated Feature category.

That's what I thought was the best part of the nominees too. I hated how they would nominate any old cartoon just to fill the category (Academy Award nominee "Shark Tale"!). This is the first year it looks like they're taking that category seriously - and without anything from Pixar, it could go to any of the three.

Miyazaki won the animated feature for 'Spirited Away' a few years ago, so his genius is certainly on Oscar's radar screen. I'd say that Wallace & Gromit probably wins the animated award, but I'd love to see Tim Burton up there.

Each category had one 'surprise' nominee that wasn't really too surprising, but seemed to be the consensus sixth place on everyone's list (Howard, Knightley, Hurt and McDormand). Brokeback is unbeatable, Lee is unbeatable, and the acting honours will likely go to Hoffman, Witherspoon, Clooney and either Williams or Keener. I'm still trying to figure out what makes Jake Gyllenhaal's performance any more supporting than Ledger's, but hey. I wonder if Terrance Howard will perform "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" onstage.

And, finally, a big screw-you to the Academy for royally shafting the year's best film, Batman Begins, with just one nomination.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLEI think it will go to Phillip Seymour Hoffman for Capote, though I personally believe that it should go to Heath Ledger for Brokeback Mountain -- his performance, in terms of its sheer evocative power, is reminiscent of Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire, or Streep in Sophie's choice. Pure Hollywood magic, whereas I found Hoffman's performance, while excellent, to be somewhat mannered, somewhat caricature-ish.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLEReese Witherspoon, Walk The Line

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLEPaul Giamatti, Cinderella ManorJake Gyllenhaal, Brokeback Mountaintoo close to call.

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLECatherine Keener, CapoteorMichelle Williams, Brokeback Mountaintoo close to call.

> The year's biggest hit, "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith," earned only one Oscar nomination (for makeup) - but was shut out otherwise - including the visual-effects category, a blow to George Lucas and his Industrial Light & Magic outfit that has pioneered special effects. <

Wow, what the heck happened there ?

Lucas and his crew normally clean up on the nominations for all the special effect and technical categories whenever they release one of their Star Wars episodes.

I want to know why there are only three Best Original Song nominations. Was there that little original music this year? I know Walk The Line and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory don't qualify, but there had to be two other songs out there somewhere.

Originally posted by SchippeWreckI want to know why there are only three Best Original Song nominations. Was there that little original music this year? I know Walk The Line and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory don't qualify, but there had to be two other songs out there somewhere.

I'm very surprised The Producers didn't get a nod for its new song. I'm not saying it's a great song, but it would have given the show a chance to present the folks from the musical.

The fact that "Me and You and Everyone We Know" didn't get a nod for best original screenplay is galling. No other movie this year was able to do so much with such efficiency and tenderness. Bah. Now I just hope Brokeback wins so that people can complain some more about the Hollywood Gay Agenda.

Herzog pulled some egocentric shit about the hoops that needed to be jumped through to get it nominated, IIRC. Shame-a clash of the titans between that and Murderball would have made the Documentary category far more interesting.